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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Drone operators and artillerymen are thrown into the infantry. Ukrainian Armed Forces are panicking in Donbass |
| 2024-11-06 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Sergey Adamov [REGNUM] The Russian army continues to advance in the SVO zone. Over the past week, the Russian Armed Forces have driven the enemy out of a number of fortified areas, approaching the settlements of Pokrovsk and Kurakhovo. The Ministry of Defense reported that from October 26 to November 1, troops established control over 12 settlements in the Donetsk People's Republic and the Kharkov region. In particular, in the Svatovo direction, the Russian army liberated the village of Pervomayskoye. Overall, in October, the Russian Armed Forces liberated more than 257 square kilometers of Donbass territory. At the same time, the pace of the offensive is only increasing. Currently, the Russian Armed Forces are advancing in the direction of the Kurakhovskoye Reservoir and the city of Kurakhovo. From the north, troops are moving from the area of the settlement of Tsukurino, from the east - from the settlement of Ostrovskoye, from the south - from the area of Ugledar. After the loss of the last one, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were unable to form a new line of defense in this area for two key reasons: firstly, there is a flat area here, and secondly, there are no large settlements where Ukrainian troops could gain a foothold. In the southern direction, fighting unfolded in the area of the village of Trudovoye, 9 kilometers from Kurakhovo. Some Russian and Ukrainian publications, as well as Telegram channels, reported that Russian troops had completely liberated the settlement. However, according to a source of the Regnum news agency located in this direction, fighting for the settlement is still ongoing. "There are certain successes in this area. Also, according to unverified information, the enemy may retreat in the direction of Uspenovka. But while heavy fighting is going on, if the Ukrainian Armed Forces retreat somewhere, they fight back with all their might, especially focusing on drones. But we control key heights, so we will move forward," the agency's interlocutor assured. He also reported that heavy fighting is taking place in the area of the village of Volchenko on the northern shore of the Kurakhovskoye Reservoir, and the Russian army is advancing in this area. In the event of loss of control over the village of Trudovoye, Ukrainian troops will be forced to retreat to the other bank of the Sukhie Yaly River, a couple of kilometers closer to Kurakhovo. Russian army units advancing from the east have also liberated the village of Katerinovka and are approaching the village of Ilyinka. The information from Russian sources was also confirmed by Julian Röpke, a military observer for the German publication Bild. According to his assessment, Russian troops are moving toward the Kurakhovo Reservoir from the northeast and southwest, advancing in the direction of the village of Maksimovka. As a result, the Russian offensive could lead to the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Kurakhovo and 10-20 nearby settlements. Or to their complete encirclement. In turn, Ukrainian sources complain about the lack of reserves and equipped defense lines. Previously, the Ukrainian military stationed in Kurakhovo admitted that the city could be abandoned in the foreseeable future. So far, everything is moving towards the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will indeed have to retreat. Advancing in the Kurakhovo area, the Russian army command is in no hurry to force an offensive on Pokrovsk, where more than 100 thousand people lived as of 2014. Instead, the Russian Armed Forces have consistently occupied a number of large settlements on the approaches to Pokrovsk, in which the Ukrainian Armed Forces planned to organize a defense: Novogrodovka, Selidovo, Ukrainsk and Gornyak. Starting in Selidovo, Russian troops advanced from the village of Vishnevoe in the direction of Novoalekseyevka. Further south, the offensive is also developing in the Novodmitrovka area. As in the Kurakhovo area, the Ukrainian Armed Forces units deployed south of Pokrovsk prefer to retreat and do not launch a counteroffensive. In some areas, Russian troops have advanced up to 25 kilometers toward the border of the Dnepropetrovsk region. However, what is more important is that the offensive will cut off the road connecting Pokrovsk and Velyka Novosyolka. And thus disrupt communication between the two enemy groups. Further advancement will allow the remaining supply routes between Pokrovsk and the rear in the Dnipropetrovsk region to be consistently cut off. According to sources of the Regnum news agency, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which are now actively preparing to repel a frontal assault on the city, may end up encircled. "We know that Pokrovsk is being prepared for battle, especially the industrial zone. Therefore, we will look for other ways, if necessary, we will bypass the city. Now the enemy is also bringing up fresh reserves to defend the southern borders and approaches to the city, but, of course, the command will also take this into account. If they cannot defend the approaches to the city, we will sooner or later take Pokrovsk," the source notes. At the same time, Ukrainian sources are openly sounding the alarm and reporting panic in the operational command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to Ukrainian deputies, the top leadership has sanctioned the transfer of experienced drone and air defense system operators to the infantry, and medical personnel and fighters from construction units are also being sent to the trenches. In turn, the leadership of the 47th and 53rd brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces deployed in Donbass addressed those who left their units without permission on Facebook (banned in Russia; owned by the Meta corporation, recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation), calling on them to return to their positions. "We can all make mistakes - it's part of life. It's important to remember that one misdeed does not define us completely. We support those who want to correct past mistakes," the statement reads. Kiev says that the front will need up to 150,000 recruits in the near future. If they fail to mobilize them, the front in Donbass may collapse completely in the near future. Western observers have also come to similar conclusions. The American magazine Newsweek, having assessed the pace of the Russian army's advance, wrote that the Ukrainian Armed Forces may not have enough reserves to hold the front. “Such a pace of advancement and the capabilities of the aviation ( Russian Armed Forces. — Ed. ) could have serious consequences for Ukraine, which will not be able to move construction equipment too close to the front line, at least without major losses in manpower,” the authors of the publication report. In addition, the first snow fell in Donbass at the end of last week. Most of the trees lost their leaves - "grew bald", which made it impossible to camouflage armored vehicles and artillery guns in the field. Uncamouflaged weapons are increasingly becoming a target for Russian drones - along with enemy infantry. By winter, Ukrainian troops will have to conduct combat operations in the bare steppe, and superiority in aviation and artillery will play a decisive role. Therefore, even if recruits from the freshest reinforcements begin to fill the trenches in the near future, it is far from certain that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will have time to stabilize the front line in Donbass. They have critically little time left for this. |
| Posted by:badanov |